Charles Smith

Charles grew up attending an Episcopal church, and belonged to various other denominations as an adult, mainly Lutheran and Presbyterian, before finding Centers for Spiritual Living. As he and Julie were exploring the neighborhood around an A-frame house they had just purchased, they spotted a church in an A-frame building and decided that was a sign they should investigate. After their first service at what turned out to be the Hi-Desert CSL in Apple Valley, California, they had found a new church home.

Charles earned an undergraduate degree in accounting at the University of Texas at El Paso. After a tour in the Army, during which he audited military clubs in Vietnam, he spent nearly twenty years as an accountant and mid-level manager in various insurance and construction companies. Going back to college for an MBA, he realized he liked the classroom better than the office, so he switched to the Ph.D. program at Texas Tech University. He was awarded his Doctorate in Finance in 1991 and started his teaching career back at the University of Texas at El Paso, later moving on to National University in Fresno, California. When Julie retired from her career as a school speech therapist, Charles switched to teaching high school math, which opened up job opportunities in more cities. That is when they moved to Apple Valley, where he stayed until retiring in 2012. They moved to Hurricane in 2021.

Charles currently serves on the Core Council for CSL St. George, where he is Treasurer and accountant. He also serves as Finance Officer and accountant for the Hurricane American Legion post, and as Registrar and Assistant Genealogist for the Washington County chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. He enjoys working with all of these organizations, but especially loves appearing at America 250 events dressed in his eighteenth century clothing.